


Almost Obscurial

by Cantatrice18



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Gen, Ilvermorny, Legilimency, Obscurus (Harry Potter), Protectiveness, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 09:31:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10487667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cantatrice18/pseuds/Cantatrice18
Summary: For over a decade, the word "Obscurial" had conjured nightmares in Tina's mind, her fear tracing back to a childhood spent watching Queenie struggle with legilimency. Back then, during her school days, she'd lived in terror that one day her sister would be replaced by a dark creature intent on self-destruction. Even now, there was no way of knowing how close Queenie had come.





	

She remembered the exact moment she learned about Obscurials. It had been during her first year at Ilvermorny, on Halloween. After the feast, the school ghosts had presented stories of the dark and terrifying, the ghosts acting out the tales as they floated overhead. She'd watched as a pair of silvery specters told the tale of a young witch gone bad, a child so intent on hiding her power that she herself had become a mindless destructive force, a living mass of rage and pain that destroyed everything in its path before finally self-destructing. The other first years had applauded merrily, while Tina sat rooted to her seat, heart thudding against her chest. The others teased her, saying she was afraid of the Obscurus coming after her. They did not know that every time she closed her eyes she saw the same face, the same green eyes and blonde hair. Her fellow first-year girls heard her awaken screaming in the night, but she told no one the source of her nightmares. The fact was that she knew a girl who, like the doomed child in the story, longed to stifle her magic. For years her sister Queenie had done everything possible to turn off her legilimency, to get rid of the power that plagued her every waking moment. Her efforts had left her with migraines so bad she could barely leave her bed, and more than once Tina had spent the night cradling Queenie in her arms, trying vainly to comfort her little sister as she cried. Now the pair were separated for the first time, Queenie left alone with a power she despised and no one to tell her that being different was alright. It was all too easy to imagine her thrusting her power away one too many times, and paying the ultimate price for it.

Tina's troubles at school during her first term were attributed to homesickness or (by some of her crueler peers) to her lack of proper upbringing. Things got better in the second term, when Tina learned that Obscurials never lived past the age of ten. If only Queenie could make it to her eleventh birthday, she would be safe. Tina kept a calendar over her bed, the ink on it glowing green at night, counting down the days. 

On March 11th, the teachers of Ilvermorny were taken aback to discover an entirely new version of Tina Goldstein in their classes. This Tina Goldstein did not fidget nervously in her seat or gaze longingly out the window. Her homework was done on time and in a neat, legible hand. Even her person had changed, a blush coloring her pale cheeks and a bright attentiveness in her eyes that most certainly had not been there before. More than one staff room conversation revolved around her sudden transformation, but weeks went by and it soon became clear that the new Tina was here to stay. As the years passed, people forgot the way she'd once been, the nervous, distracted child afraid to sleep. She herself had forgotten, the idea of Obscurials gathering dust at the back of her mind, until one day every terrifying memory came roaring back. There was an obscurial in New York, an obscurial that, ten years before, could well have been her sister. Her heart ached for the child the way it had when she'd feared for Queenie's life. She knew the pain the obscurial must be feeling, and it was that knowledge that kept her focused and driven. She would not watch as a child died for the crime of trying to escape their magic. Not when she could help.


End file.
